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Facts on How Narrow Definitions of Success Adversely Affect our Children
Challenge Success synthesizes and reviews relevant articles in the fields of health and education. We offer a brief list of citations below:
Depression and Anxiety
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3.22 million kids, ages 7-17 were treated for depression in the past 5 years. This is more than double the number from the previous 5 years.i
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Over 25% of adolescents have felt sad or depressed every day for 2 or more weeks at least once during a year’s timeii
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Rates of depression and anxiety can be up to 3 times greater in suburban communities compared to urban and normative samples.iii
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Over half of kids who suffer from depression will attempt suicide at least once; more than 7% will complete.iv
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In 2007, 14.5% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous 12 months. 11.3% of high school students made a plan about how they would attempt suicide, and 6.9% of students attempted suicide one or more times.v
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Suicide is the 3rd largest cause of death among people between the ages of 10 and 24 after accidents and homicide.vi
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3 million teens considered or attempted suicide in 2000.vii
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In girls aged 10-14, suicides were up 75.9% between 2003 and 2004, while suicides increased 32% in young women aged 15-19.viii
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Of nearly 2,200 Stanford students surveyed by telephone in 2007-2008, nearly 12%—more than one out of 10 students—said they had thought of suicide.ix
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1 in 5 students at two Ivy League schools report purposely injuring themselves by cutting, burning, or other methods.x
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54% of high school females and 32% of high school males (out of a sample of nearly 5000 Bay Area youth) reported 3 or more symptoms of physical stress in the past month.xi
Academic Stress
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9- to 13-year-olds said they were more stressed by academics than any other stressor—even bullying or family problems.xii
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In a 2005 poll, conducted by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, more than half the D.C. area adolescents surveyed—58%--said school was their biggest cause of stress. About 35% of local teens said they experienced stress frequently, compared with 27% of teens nationwidexiii
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70% of Bay Area parents report that their 9- to 13-year-old children experience moderate to high levels of stress. What contributes most? Parents say schoolwork and homework.xiv
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Nearly 30% of students with more than 3 ½ hours of homework each night reported weight gain compared with 14% at two hours of homework or less per night.xv
Drugs and Alcohol
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Suburban youth are more likely to report using drugs and alcohol to self-medicate (to decrease feelings of stress and depression) compared to normative and urban youth populations.xvi
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23% of college students have alcohol substance abuse problems.xvii
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9% of Bay Area high school students surveyed reported use of illegal prescription drugs to stay awake; an additional 25% use legal stimulants.xviii
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10% of Duke and UNC students illegally used ADHD medications in 2007; 90% of those aimed for “greater success with their studying”.xix
Sleep
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Preschoolers need 11-14 hours of sleep each night; 5- to 12-year-olds need 10-11 hours; teens need 9.25 hours of sleep each night.xx
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According to a 2004 Sleep in America Poll, 54% of 1st through 5th graders sleep just 9-10 hours per night, and 17% sleep less than 9 hours per night.xxi
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A 2006 sleep poll shows that 80% of teens don’t get the recommended amount of sleep. At least 28% fall asleep in school, and 22% fall asleep doing homework.xxii
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A majority of adolescents are averaging 7 hours of sleep per night, and one quarter are getting 6 hours or less.xxiii
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50% of Bay Area teens report headaches, difficulty sleeping, and exhaustion due to stress over the past month.xxiv
School
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In a national survey, students were asked to use 3 words to describe how they felt in school. The word most often used by students was “bored” followed by “tired”.xxv
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Research shows that playful learning leads to better academic success than does a skills-and-drills approach, but this isn’t happening in many of our school: Teens reported being bored 27% of the time that they are in class and disengaged 75% of the time.xxvi
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Time kids spend doing homework has increased 51% since 1981. (2004 national survey of more than 2,900 children done by the University of Michigan).xxvii
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62% of Bay Area high school students surveyed said they always or almost always work hard in school, but only 10% always or almost always enjoy schoolwork.xxviii
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Harris Cooper reviewed research on homework, which showed almost no correlation between homework and achievement for elementary school students. There was only a .7 correlation for middle school students for the first 60 minutes; if middle school students did more than that, he found little or nor correlation.xxix
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Research presented at a 1996 national Head Start conference demonstrated that kids attending developmentally appropriate K-2 classes scored higher in reading and math than those in academically oriented classes.xxx
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According to a study of children at more than 60 schools, by the end of 4th grade, those kids who had attended academically oriented preschools earned significantly lower grades than did those who had attended more progressive, “child-initiated” preschool classes, where the emphasis was on play.xxxi
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In Finland, kids begin formal school at age 7. While initially behind, by age 15, Finnish students outperform students from every nation in reading skills. Finnish students are also among the highest scorers in math and science literacy.xxxii
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A recent McKinsey and CO. report showed that, while U.S. fourth graders compare well on global testing, high school kids really lag. “The longer American children are in school, the worse they perform.”xxxiii
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2/3 of high school students indicated that they had cheated on a test at least once during the school year.xxxiv
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95% of 11/12th graders admitted that they cheated at least once during high school. 90% of middle school students admitted to cheating at least once in school.xxxv
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Adolescents report several reasons why they cheat, including: fear of failure, parents demanding good grades, wanting to keep up with others, wanting to get a good grade, and feeling that the teacher is unfair.xxxvi
Play Time, Down Time, Family Time (PDF)
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According to a large study done by the University of Michigan, family meals are the single strongest predictor of better achievement scores and fewer behavioral problems for children ages 3-12.xxxvii
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6- to 8-year-olds spend 33 percent less time playing today than in 1981.xxxviii
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Kids today have 12 hours less free time each week than they did in 1981.xxxix
Sports/Overuse Injuries
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Over 3.5 million kids ages 14 and under are treated for sports injuries each year.xl
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High school athletes have 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospital visits annually.xli
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In 1984, 10% of the patients treated by the Sports Medical Division at children’s Hospital in Boston suffered overuse injuries; in 2007, 70% of injuries were attributed to overuse.xlii
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Tommy Johns surgery, to repair elbow ligament tears in pitchers, has quadrupled in the last 7 years. 50% of all Tommy Johns cases are pediatric, and 50% of those injuries result from overuse.xliii
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Up to 50% of all injuries seen in pediatric sports medicine are related to overuse.xliv
Do You Know?
Facts on How Narrow Definitions of Success Adversely Affect our Children
Challenge Success synthesizes and reviews relevant articles in the fields of health and education. We offer a brief list of citations below:
Source: http://www.challengesuccess.org/Resources/Research/tabid/860/Default.aspx 12/27/09